We do iterative releases, and thus I see a good number of user UI/UX requirements come in. Which is great so we can focus on the key areas.
Naturally these requests are in the format "The system should have button at place Y that does X". Occasionally this is spot on, but often the suggestion would be a poor way to achieve their actual goal.
I currently resolve this with a conversation where I talk user through context and goals. This works, but has two problems, firstly "unwinding" the user from their fixed idea "But I WANT a BUTTON" and secondly they are being requested to think on the spot about something that is out of the current context which is naturally error prone and also think abstractly which makes a few people slightly uncomfortable.
A search did not find any recommended questions. I have not yet tried a format yet, but want to start with a reasonably high quality set.
So the question is what is a known effective format to prompt users for more insightful UX requirements requests.
I am making the assumption that to affect the changes I want I need to prompt them when they are making the initial report. Our current user base is reasonably well educated white collar office workers.
Some ideas of issue logging form that they would initiate a UI enhancement request with:
Questions or Paragraph
Q. What Goal do you need to achieve?
Q. How are you currently reaching this goal?
Q. How frequently do you do this job?
Q. What change would help you achieve your goal?
Q. Describe impact the change make to you and others?
vs.
Hi, to help us make the best possible UI for you, please take
a moment to tell us about the Goal you need to achieve. Describe
what it is, and how you are achieving it today. What is the
impact of the current UI on your daily work.
Clarification: Thanks for the genuinely useful responses in having that "unwinding and analysis" conversation. Will use them.
However what I'm trying to encourage is quite narrow, namely get the user thinking more expansively and abstractly about their goals in the first report that they log, before I make contact with them (reading between the lines this may be unrealistic)